I'm a firm believer in if it can be fixed, then don't throw it out.
Mum's 6 year old 26" flat screen LG TV (LG 26LC46) started playing up a couple of weeks ago. Firstly the speakers would crackle when switched on from cold. A few days later the picture would take up to a minute or so to appear - but only on Freeview. Anything fed via the Scart, HDMI, or even the aerial input on analogue TV was fine however. Needless to say though the problems got worse over the coming days.
So, off with the back of the TV on Thursday evening, quick look over the PSU board and spotted 3 swollen capacitors. Made a note of their values, and off to my usual seller on Ebay who I've had excellent service with before. Had to purchase a minimum of 2 capacitors of each value. Ordered Friday morning for the paltry sum of £6.03. Delivered Saturday morning. Off with the old capacitors and soldered in the new ones.
Voila! No more crackling from the speakers and the picture comes on straight away again. Mum is well happy at not having to splash out on a new TV just yet.
A google of the model number later confirmed the PSU is a common failing on this and most other modern LCD TVs. Even found a youtube clip showing the same 3 failed capacitors on an identical model of TV. You can even buy 2nd hand tested PSUs off Ebay for around £25.
Anyone else ever get lucky with cheap repairs.
Last edited by: VxFan on Mon 3 Nov 14 at 10:43
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Of course there's also there's the opposite problem. TVs these days are so reliable that you don't get an excuse to upgrade. Have a perfectly reliable Panasonic 32 inch but I want to upgrade to a larger TV. Always seems a shame taking a perfectly reliable device to the tip
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>> I want to upgrade to a larger TV. Always seems a shame taking a perfectly
>> reliable device to the tip
>>
Just give me a nod when you are ready to change Mr N. I will come and pick up your old TV.
1. You will have helped a poor person.
2. No need to mix with those nasty wuff people with tattoos down at the tip!
Win, win!
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>>>Just give me a nod when you are ready to change Mr N. I will come and pick up your old TV.<<<
Feeling strong? - you will probably find it is a 32" CRT :)
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If it was a 37 I'd offer to swap, CG. Our Sony 40 was perfect in the room we bought it for but seems a little big since we moved. Being a 2009 set it's a bit thicker than today's and a bit obtrusive when not in use. Still works perfectly, though, so no excuses for a change.
When my Arcam amplifier stopped working maybe ten years ago, it was apparent that the speaker protection fuse had blown. A further look revealed that there was a spare included in the box it had come in ten years before. Cost of repair: £0.00.
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I am not sure if newer TVs will suffer from the same capacitor issues. In around 2006 there were lots of poor quality capacitors been made but the electronics industry quickly stopped buying them when they realised there was a problem. I used to change many motherboards due to capacitor failure, but I haven't seen a capacitor fail on a motherboard for a long time now.
In general though it is fair to say that in modern electronics, including ECUs if they do fail it is most likely due to capacitor failure.
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>> Of course there's also there's the opposite problem. TVs these days are so reliable that
>> you don't get an excuse to upgrade. Have a perfectly reliable Panasonic 32 inch but
>> I want to upgrade to a larger TV. Always seems a shame taking a perfectly
>> reliable device to the tip
>>
Freecycle it!
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>> TVs these days are so reliable
Are they? When I took a couple of 14" working CRT portable TVs to the tip a couple of years ago, there were more broken flat screens of all sizes than there were CRTs. Well, presumably they were broken and not just "traded in" for newer models.
It does seem nothing is built to last these days though. Maybe manufacturers realise that some people want to upgrade to the latest model so only build them with a working life of around 5 years.
I can remember our old living room CRT TV was over 20 years old before it gave up the ghost.
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Of course they are more reliable. You wouldn't ge free five year guarantees if they weren't. Old TVs were for ever going wrong. That's why people used to rent them from companies like Radio Rentals and change them every two years. Tv repairman was a common trade. I don't buy into this everything these days doesn't last point of view. Most stuff is got rid of these days because people want to upgrade rather than it has packed in.
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>>
>> Anyone else ever get lucky with cheap repairs.
>>
I've now fixed all 3 Dell laptops in the household for roughly a tenner each by replacing the PSU module for the screen backlight, in each case the original part started playing up (random screen brightness changes) at about 5 years old. Takes about 15 mins. a go, plus allowance for finding tiny ickle screws that ping off into the distance during disassembly.
Fixed my Acer netbook, which wouldn't charge the battery, via a BIOS update.
Agree with Rats's comment that electrolytics are the main failure mode in most electronics these days.
Last edited by: spamcan61 on Mon 3 Nov 14 at 12:59
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Talking of a cheap fix I bought a broken Dell Latitude for £20 of ebay needing a new screen. It had many decent parts such as a 2GB DDR2 module (worth £20 alone) so I used these in other laptops. Sadly despite being an LED screen the cheapest new I could find was £70 but bought a second hand screen for £30 and I am waiting for that to be delivered. Will need to spend money on new RAM, a spare HD and a Windows 7 refurb licence but I should be able to sell it for £150 easily once it is all done. Not a bad bit of profit for little work.
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>> Anyone else ever get lucky with cheap repairs.
>>
I, or rather a friend who's good with a soldering iron, did the same with a Hewlett Packard monitor of mine which died suddenly. I was about to take it to the tip, but decided, out of curiosity, to have a look inside first. I was surprised to find that most of the electronics seemed to be on one small board. I couldn't find one on the net, but I did find out how to do a visual check. It was exactly the same fault - 3 swollen capacitors on the PSU board.
At the time, I read that the glut of faulty capacitors was probably caused by industrial spies being led deliberately to false information. Whether true or not, I like the idea of that!
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>> Anyone else ever get lucky with cheap repairs.
My Flymo hover mower is 33 years old. Been repaired many times. Only cost being solder, screws, araldite, and odd scrapbox bits.
It could now do with a new blade but, of course, are no-longer available for this model.
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I can remember my old man repairing our TV by swearing loudly and thumping it with his fist.
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<< I can remember my old man repairing our TV by swearing loudly and thumping it with his fist. >>
In 1958 I worked in a TV factory in final test. Having set the deflection coil up and checked everything was working the last procedure was always a good thump on the top of the case. Very occasionally this did cause the tv to pack up.
One of my colleagues there was a radio operator during the war. He never saw a German because he spent his service in submarines. He said it was the safest place to be. I couldn't even join a tour of a relatively modern sub in Chatham Dockyard because of claustrophobia.
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>> It could now do with a new blade but, of course, are no-longer available for
>> this model.
you have a file?
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Sure, filed it but the Flymo is quite soft steel and not very sharp.
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Sure, filed it but the Flymo is quite soft steel and not very sharp.
Heat steel to a dull red and plunge into a heap of sugar. Repeat.
Carbon hardens the surface. Not something you'll find in many books but it is a bush mechanics trick. I used it on a security plate as part of my locking system on car trailer.
Carbon powder is of course better, but who has that handy?
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>>Heat steel to a dull red and plunge into a heap of sugar. Repeat.
Now there's a trick I wish I'd known years ago! Still, living here I bet I get to use it at some point.
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Meanwhile in Poland, BBD dips his todger into a mug of boiling water and searches for the sugar bowl......
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you could of course harden and temper it in the normal way, no sugar required just oil or water.
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On the basis the Flymo blade is pretty ordinary steel (which I bet it is), increasing the carbon content is more likely to have a long term effect. It's also more fun!
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>> On the basis the Flymo blade is pretty ordinary steel (which I bet it is),
>> increasing the carbon content is more likely to have a long term effect. It's also
>> more fun!
Well as I have an old blade for my mower and my mother has 500 kilos of sugar (from the last sugar shortage crisis - one she helped to create) I'll give this a go.
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Thanks for tip. I left home at 16 because I didn't want to do heavy engineering, all that was available locally. Don't think I will change my ways now. For the price of a blow torch, a cwt of sugar, leather gloves and the risk of incinerating my (tiny) workshop I could probably buy a new mower.
However, if I can destroy the packaging on current blades in B&Q to be able to measure the fixing hole size I might find it is adaptable to my machine.
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Had a problem with our dishwasher filling up the tray underneath (it being German it has a tray underneath to catch and water and a float switch). mopped it out several times, then decided it had to be taken apart. However, in the mean time wondered if it might be the door seal so gave it a good clean on the off chance. Never leaked a drop since...:-)
Last edited by: RichardW on Thu 6 Nov 14 at 21:45
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Our washing machine was never emptying and seemed to be stuck on long spins.
Wife was convinced it was goosed and time to be replaced. I said if we were doing this, then there was no risk then to me taking the machine apart out of curiosity. Took all the pipes etc off and discovered in the waste pipe hidden inside the machine was a pile of dog poo bags (unused of course) which was blocking the pipe.
Removed them, put it all back together again and machine still working to this day!
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>> Our washing machine was never emptying and seemed to be stuck on long spins.
>>
>> Wife was convinced it was goosed and time to be replaced. I said if we
>> were doing this, then there was no risk then to me taking the machine apart
>> out of curiosity. Took all the pipes etc off and discovered in the waste pipe
>> hidden inside the machine was a pile of dog poo bags
Similar experience here only it was a work security pass left in my shirt pocket that found it's way to block the drain filter.
Never usually needed it as regular security guards, Martin and Jama, knew me but we'd had relief guys for two days so pass had been unusually to hand.
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My £6 TV fix - CGNorwich
